all those pretty lights
by amillionsmiles
Summary: Kai and Jinora have been best friends since they were four, so when it seems as if Kai has forgotten her fourteenth birthday, Jinora starts to worry. / Kai&Jinora, one-shot. Modern AU.


**A/N:** This goes out to words-with-dragons, camilleRomance, and everyone else who has been so enthusiastic and supportive of my fics! Happy Kainora Week, guys, and let's do this again next year! :) For Kainora Week Day 7: "Harmony."

* * *

><p>"Race you."<p>

Jinora didn't wait for Kai's response before she took off. She'd timed her challenge perfectly, issuing it as they arrived at the crest of the hill, and now gravity did most of the work. The wind rushed through her hair, tugging her short locks backwards as her bike breezed over the black asphalt.

Her lead was short-lived. In seconds, Kai had pulled up alongside her. He bent low over the handlebars, grinning at her before zeroing his attention straight ahead. Behind them, the sun beat down on their backs; Jinora watched the elongated shadows they cast, the dizzy, dark blur of their wheels working in tandem.

The white stone of her house appeared on the left, and, in silent agreement, both she and Kai slowed down. Now that the ground had leveled out, they both stood up and flung their arms out wide, trying to maintain their balance on their bikes while pedaling, all without clutching the handlebars.

"Crap," cursed Kai as he wobbled, hopping off his bike to avoid getting scraped up.

Jinora laughed, which threw off her balance; she stuck out a leg to steady herself and eased off the bike, resting it against her hip. "I win."

"Not the race part. _That_ was a tie."

"Sore loser," teased Jinora. "You're just mad 'cause you can't beat me on this part."

Kai huffed, ruffling his hair in frustration. "It's not fair that you were born with some magical sense of balance."

"Why thank you," said Jinora, curtsying slightly as she pushed open the gate of the pathway leading to her front porch. Kai pulled the gate shut behind them with a resounding _clank_ before they set their bikes in the grassy lawn.

"We really need to come up with a better place to put these," said Kai, nudging a wheel of his bike with his shoe. "It feels disrespectful, leaving them on their sides on the ground."

"Well, if you would agree to go through the garage, then maybe we wouldn't have this problem."

Kai snorted. "Jinora, there is no space in your garage for _anything._"

"It's not _that_ messy," sniffed Jinora, pushing open her front door.

The air-conditioning was a welcome relief from the heat, and as Jinora pulled at her shirt, she realized just how sticky with sweat she was. She glanced at Kai, who was busy kicking off his shoes. Quickly, and furtively, she inspected her underarms—no pit stains, thankfully.

Not that Kai would have noticed—he was already making a beeline for the kitchen.

"You have no self-control," admonished Jinora, beating him to the freezer, where she pulled out the box of popsicles. Grinning, Kai accepted the cherry red one she offered—his favorite—and went to sit at the counter, opening the wrapper while Jinora rummaged around for a lime green one for herself.

"The stomach wants what it wants," he countered as Jinora sat in the stool beside him.

"Intruder alert! State your name and purpose!" a voice demanded, and Kai and Jinora turned to find Meelo wearing a helmet and waving a toy truck at Kai.

"I'm here to steal all your food."

"Unacceptable!" hollered Meelo, banging Kai on the knee with the truck.

"_Ouch, _Meelo!" said Kai at the same time Jinora scolded, "_Meelo, _we've been over this—you're not allowed to hit Kai!"

"It's my duty to protect this house from strangers!"

Kai laughed, rubbing his knee. "Meelo, I'm not really a stranger…I've known you guys for nine years."

_Ten,_ Jinora corrected in her head, because she and Kai had known each other ever since they were four, when he had moved in next door, and today…

Today, she turned fourteen. But Kai hadn't mentioned anything about it yet. Not that that made it the end of the world—obviously, their friendship went much deeper than birthday wishes—but still.

He was her best friend. Shouldn't he have said _something_?

Meelo, of course, didn't nitpick about the amount (although, seeing as he was nine-years-old, he should've been able to do the math. But Jinora wasn't going to complain about that, either.)

"Just steer clear of the orange-flavored popsicles and we have a deal," said Meelo, sticking out the hand not holding the truck.

"You got it," said Kai, catching Jinora's gaze and grinning as he shook Meelo's hand.

Satisfied, Meelo walked away. Jinora groaned. "I swear, he gets more embarrassing the older he gets."

"Doubtful," said Kai, finishing off his popsicle, his tongue stained red. "Remember the time he mooned me when he was five?"

"That was pretty horrifying."

"Or when he got that Lego piece stuck up his nose?"

"All right, well, why don't we list everything embarrassing _you've_ ever done?" challenged Jinora, pointing at him with her popsicle stick.

"Only if we do the same for you."

"The time you fell in Mr. Toza's pool because you were too focused on chasing a butterfly," started Jinora, sticking out her tongue.

"The time you walked straight into a pole while reading," replied Kai.

"The time Mako walked in on you in the bathroom."

"The time you peed your pants from laughing too hard and had to borrow some of my clothes."

"I was _six_!" said Jinora, cheeks burning.

"You got to wear my favorite pair of shorts, too," said Kai, sighing as if it had been some grave injustice.

She remembered that pair well. "They were an awful shade of green."

Kai looked insulted, and Jinora couldn't help wondering what it would feel like to wear something of his now—like the soft green hoodie he donned during the winter.

Immediately, she stopped. _What are you doing?_ she thought, hoping Kai didn't notice the new surge of red crawling to her cheeks. _It's summer, and you're thinking about hoodies._

_Also, he's your _best friend.

She slid off the stool, grabbing Kai's trash as well, balling the popsicle wrappers in her hands and throwing them away as nonchalantly as she could.

Meanwhile, Kai had stretched his arms above his head, popping his neck and shoulders. "So, what are we going to do today?"

"Ikki's got claims to the TV right now, so we can't do that," said Jinora, tapping her chin. "Let's go up to my room and see what we can dig up."

Kai bounded up the stairs ahead of her—he knew the location of everything, by now—and by the time Jinora entered her room he had already made himself at home on the bed, arms folded behind his head and feet propped up.

Jinora yanked the pillow from under his head and hit him with it. "You're going to make my sheets dirty," she complained.

Kai flung the pillow back at her from across the room as Jinora pulled open her closet, searching for a board game they could play.

"Hey, I remember these." Kai's voice sounded behind her and to the left; Jinora withdrew from her clothes and looked to where he leaned against the window, fiddling with a black walkie-talkie.

They'd gotten the set when they were ten, but hadn't used it in about a year and a half. Hers was still docked in her charging station—Kai's was probably lost somewhere under his bed.

"Yeah," smiled Jinora, walking over. Up close, her ear brushed against Kai's shoulder; he'd undergone a growth spurt that summer, something Jinora had noticed.

Another thing that became apparent up close was his scent: soap, mixed with grass. It was strange, but not entirely unpleasant, and Jinora…

…blinked quickly and took a step back. "_So,_" she said, clearing her throat, "we can either play Speed, or chess, or Chinese checkers."

"Why not all three?" asked Kai, jiggling the handle of the door that led to Jinora's balcony. He made a face as it popped open and a wave of heat rushed in.

Jinora closed the door gently. "Maybe we should stay inside," she suggested. "Where it isn't, you know, 97 degrees."

"Agreed," said Kai, and settled on the carpet.

One game of chess (Jinora: 1, Kai: 0), two games of Chinese checkers (Jinora: 2, Kai: 0), and five games of Speed later (Jinora: 0, Kai: 5), Pema poked her head through the door.

"It's almost 7:00, kids. Are you going to stay for dinner, Kai?"

"Um, I…" Kai rubbed the back of his neck, sneaking a glance at Jinora. "Not tonight, sorry. Thanks for the offer, though."

"All right," smiled Pema, gaze flicking to her daughter before she shut the door.

Jinora stared determinedly at the cards, trying to mask her disappointment. Tonight was her birthday dinner—Kai _always_ stayed for those.

Had he really forgotten?

She didn't want to say anything, though, at the risk of sounding petulant, so, instead, Jinora asked, "Are you nervous about high school?"

Maybe, in some roundabout way, _that_ would remind him.

"A little," admitted Kai, helping her fold away the chessboard and store the pieces. "But we'll still be together, so it won't be completely different."

"Yeah," said Jinora, "but there might be more challenges since we're," she swallowed, "you know, _older_ and stuff."

Kai looked up at her sharply, the tips of his ears turning pink before his eyes darted quickly away. "Yeah," he murmured, "older."

Jinora's stomach sunk. Her carefully placed hints hadn't seemed to have any effect; resigned, she dropped the lid on the checker set.

"C'mon," she said, struggling to keep her voice bright, "I'll walk with you."

Outside, the sky had begun to darken. Kai picked his bike off the lawn, dusting the grass and dirt off of it before pushing it along. Jinora opened the gate for him and, together, they journeyed the ten steps to his house.

At the gate, Kai wavered. "Um…good night, Jinora."

"Good night, Kai."

"See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah."

Jinora watched him go. Once he'd disappeared indoors, she went back and collected her bike from her yard, opening the garage and storing it there. The large metal garage door rumbled overhead as, bit by bit, it covered her view of the neighborhood outside, and once she was plunged back in darkness—to the shadow of her bike, the outline of her parents' cars, and the dusty toys—Jinora went inside.

o.O.o

"Jinora?"

Jinora sat up, heart pounding. The voice had come from near her window, crackly and broken with static. She squinted into the darkness.

"Jinora?" the voice crackled again. "Jinora, do you copy?"

The walkie-talkie. Throwing off her covers, Jinora padded to the window, where she picked it up and saw the green light flashing. Kai must have turned it on earlier.

"Kai?" she whispered, pressing it to her ear.

"Finally." She could hear a smile in his voice, but there was something else, too. He sounded almost…nervous. "Can you come outside?"

"Kai, it's 10:00 at night."

"Exactly."

"_Fine,_" exhaled Jinora, working to ease her balcony door open as quietly as she could. Truth be told, she'd become adept at doing it, which only attested to the fact that Kai made her sneak out to meet him _way_ too often.

As she pushed the door open and tiptoed outside, Jinora gasped.

Kai had strung up lights all over her balcony, coiling them around the rungs and railing, their soft glow brightening the inky darkness. It was still muggy outside, but the stars overhead and the boy standing in front of her made up for it.

"Happy birthday," said Kai, a radio player clutched in both his hands, adorned with a bow.

"I thought you'd forgotten," blurted Jinora.

Kai looked down. "I know," he said. "Sorry about that. But I wanted it to be a surprise, so I had to set these up while you weren't around…" he gestured at the lights behind him, embarrassed, and as her eyes adjusted to the darkness Jinora could discern a faint blush covering his cheeks.

She stepped forward, accepting the gift, setting it down on the floor and crouching in front of it. "Wow, Kai, this is…"

Kai looked down from above her, rubbing his neck before he squatted before her. "I thought we could take it on our next camping trip. Since you're always going on about how you'd like to look at the stars with music in the background…it's not top-of-the-line or anything, but I—"

He was interrupted by the sound of static as Jinora fiddled with the dials, searching for a signal. Soon enough, the two of them heard the faint strains of music coming through the speakers, and within ten or so seconds it had strengthened, the static fading out and replaced by the singer's voice crooning lyrics into the night air.

Jinora grinned. "Kai, it's perfect."

"Are you sure? I wasn't…you don't have to worry about hurting my feelings, Jinora."

"_Kai._ I _mean_ it."

"O-okay," said Kai.

"_And I wanna remember this night…and how my words never came out right," _hummed the radio.

Kai coughed and stood up, ruffling his hair, sticking his hands in his pockets, and looking over his shoulder at her backyard before, finally, he looked back down at her and stuck out a hand, staring fixedly at his feet. "Would you like to…dance?"

Jinora looked, wide-eyed, from Kai's outstretched hand to his face, shrouded in shadow. "What?"

"Would you like to dance?" said Kai, hoarser, eyes searching hers.

"S-sure," stammered Jinora, letting him pull her to her feet.

It was awkward at first. She didn't know where to put her hands, what distance was acceptable, what this all meant.

But, like everything else they did, she and Kai figured it out. They settled into a comfortable rhythm, swaying back and forth, two wheels spinning together—just as it had always been.

As the music continued, Jinora closed her eyes and rested her head against Kai's chest. His heartbeat was strong under her ears, as comforting and familiar as her own, and she knew that the pattern it was tapping out now was echoed in her chest.


End file.
